Simon seeks to make Minnesota first in voter turnout this year

Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon was in Benson last Thursday meeting with staff at Prairie 5 Community Action office on ways they can help turn out voters for the Nov. 8 election.
Simon is seeking to return Minnesota to the number one spot in voter turnout in the nation.
An August Pew Charitable Trusts’ Election Performance Index ranked Minnesota second in the country for its overall election performance, including being named the number one state for having the least amount of registration or absentee ballot problems.
Minnesota, along with Wisconsin and North Dakota, has ranked among the top four states for each election year measured (2008, 2010, 2012 and 2014).
“Minnesota’s election system has been and continues to be a role model for the nation and that’s in large part due to the great work done by Minnesotans at the county and local levels,” said Secretary Simon
The Pew Election Performance Index (EPI) is a comprehensive assessment of election administration in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. It looks at a variety of indicators to measure states’ elections performance, and to identify both potential problem areas and the impact of changes in election policy or practice.
Key indicators examined include online registration availability, wait times at polling locations, voting information lookup tools, registration or mail-ballot problems, whether a post-election audit is required, and more.
Swift County was in the top half of the state’s 87 counties for voter turnout in 2012, but closer to the middle of the pack rather than the top. The county’s voter turnout in the 2012 general election was 71.95 percent. Pope County’s was 72.79 percent while Chippewa County saw a turnout of 66.07...
For more on this story, and to keep up on all the latest news, subscribe to the Swift County Monitor-News print edition or our PDF internet edition. Call 320-843-4111 and you can get all the local news and sports delivered to you!

Pictured: Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, center, was in Benson at the Prairie 5 Community Action office, talking about ways to improve voter turnout in November. Meeting with him were, from left, Debra Larson, Praire 5 Executive Director, Angela Zielsdorf of the Benson Prairie 5, Simon, his staff person Daniella Filardo, and from Prairie 5’s regional office Erick Hedman.